xenopeek wrote: On the Linux Mint Community site you will find a hardware review database for that. For laptops you can check a list of vendors that sell laptops preloaded with Linux: http://linuxpreloaded.com/.

And thanks to all for the reply. About dual booting I was rather thinking to drastically pass to Linux since I thought it was less problematic. Then I thought to install Windows on a virtual machine, but if I don't have a working and satisfing Linux distro, it makes no sense. ANd yes maybe trying new distros could solve some or all of my problems, but I was expecting at least basic things to work. If even brightness, suspend, etc. start to give problems, it's quite frustating. And each time starting with a new distro it means to spend days trying, because I can't say in half an hour tested from the USB stick. ALso mint mate was working very good at the beginning.

phidias81 wrote:Yes the problem, is that in example if Brightness is not working, then there is no way to assign it through hotkeys I had to format mainly trying to install graphic driver in different ways that were not workingI tried only mint (cinnamon and mate), in the past Ubuntu. Being Ubuntu and Mate coming from the same structure I guess it could give me the same problems?

not sure,graphics drivers are installes easily, when u have nvidiaati may couse problems when wrongly installed:

JWJones wrote:I use Thinkpads (T61 currently) which are great Linux laptops. Everything works as it should, or a quick-fix is easy to find.

I use a Thinkpad T400 precisely because it runs Debian systems with a minimum of effort...since this is your first time, you probably didn'tknow all the tricks of how to pick your computer...that must really suck....

I use W 7 for my media server with my first generation flat screen TV simply because it works with a lot less energy than Linux...and my wife is more likely to use it.So, if you're switching to Linux to make your life easier, that was a mistake....if you switched because you are an IT professional or want to evolve into apower user over time, them you made the right choice. I studied physics and wanted to become a "Linux Guy" that's why I changed. I am so grateful that I didbecause it's opened up doors for me. I love developing and working in Linux.

I highly suggest that you do not DUAL BOOT....get a second hard drive and install Windows on that...then switch boot devices from you BIOS.

Best wishes....

PS Have you tried the ubuntuforums.org ...? there's a lot bigger community there...

I quit using *bsd system (the original models, not the prepackaged systems), but have never had to quit Linux OS: various versions including older Suse and even an original (diskette: Yggdrasil) and some others about the same time..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yggdrasil ... d_releases

I returned a Toshiba because of too many issues a few years back, some have no issues some others do, the one I had was toast, a total dud even with windoze on it.Might of been a lemon though, so I thought at the time, maybe it was one of many by what I've been seeing lately.Shrugs linux ain't for everyone, even if it's a better OS, can't please everyone.Everyone I converted over to linux refuses to ever go back to windoze again, so far I'm batting pretty good on the converting stats ah ya all but one, that's cause I didn't have time to show all they could do it and give them basic training, sort of installed and left them to their own devices, so that one failure at conversion was my fault I guess

"Windows: the worst system for the most money, Linux: the best system for free" Registered Linux User #545430SolydK

There are some problems in Linux for sure.I installed Windows 7 a few days ago and some things look much easier and more polished... however I'm finding that when I actually want to DO something, it's a big pain in the bum.

I had to turn off Aero, because my desktop is so much more sluggish - but it was super clean and lightning fast with Linux Mint's Mate desktop...

Deleting a shortcut.... ROFL - Windows first decided it should try to determine how many minutes it should take to do this, Windows likes to go all around the houses.

Last night it refused to shutdown and warned me that I am not allowed to turn off the power on my own damn computer!!!!! 3 hours installing stuff.

Other stuff - windows are pretty ugly with huge controls and I don't want to go through too many hoops - just let me choose my borders for chrissakes!!!

WMP is a monster, can''t just use it the way I could with Banshee... and Media Center looks okay, but I prefer Plex anyway.

Plex media server can't be run by simply powering on the machine! That means in order to watch TV I must also switch to my desktop and log in, and wait for Windows. With Linux, my family can just turn on power and use it without having access to my desktop...

Sure, for specific programs. I really wanted to spend a little time with uTorrent (my main use is for Plex and torrents and a little web browsing, or watching youtube on TV) - so I'm hanging in... but I must say that overall my reaction is this:

Just boot Mint, cos it's easier and works without rebooting every ten minutes!

I don't understand the constant complaining from windows users on this forum.The other day, I had to install a windows partition for a C# course I'm taking.It took 3 hours to install windows, apply updates, search for and install the nvidia driver, install visual studio. The whole time, apps would freeze (on a fresh install, really?) And it was just generally not a fun experience.

Now I normally dual boot mint 13 xfce and Arch. With mint I boot, install, restart, update, install drivers, favorite apps. All together it takes about 40 minutes.With Arch it takes about 30 minutes to install including partitions, user setup, etc. Then another hour or so for post install including setting up auto login, auto start, auto usb mount, drivers, favorite apps, etc.Now I can understand a bit of frustration when someone first switches to Linux. And I don't want to belittle anyone. Everyone has their own opinions and I respect that. But most of the complaining that I see on various forums seems to stem from an unwillingness to learn. I learned everything I know about Linux from friendly users, Google, and the arch wiki. As for the OP's issues, the arch wiki has an article on literally every problem he noted. I understand, however, that heay just have an unlucky hardware config, but there is a workaround for everything.

I'm sorry for this rant, I just think that complaint threads like this do GNU/Linux and our wonderful community a great disservice. As well as spreading disinformation.

I'm sorry for this rant, I just think that complaint threads like this do GNU/Linux and our wonderful community a great disservice. As well as spreading disinformation

No worry's, this is the place to air it all out. Everyone reacts to things differently, some get challenged, some get flustered. The Linux Mint Community is great, and always ready to help out, so everyone can have a good Linux Mint experience.

I'm sorry for this rant, I just think that complaint threads like this do GNU/Linux and our wonderful community a great disservice. As well as spreading disinformation

No worry's, this is the place to air it all out. Everyone reacts to things differently, some get challenged, some get flustered. The Linux Mint Community is great, and always ready to help out, so everyone can have a good Linux Mint experience.

Right? If I could mix this community with Arch's documentation, I could die happy.

I've also had a nightmare trying to get into Linux, having installed it 4 times in the last couple of days. I am, however, finally comfortable, with Mint 15 XFCE, and I've not seen much in the way of bugs. Things seem to "just work", much to my surprise. Unfortunately, and what's weird for me to get my head around, is, what works wonderfully for me, falls to absolute turd, when my brother recently tried it. Linux seems hugely temporamental, and I hope one day it is more compatible and has less of these issues, but for now, I feel very lucky to have a "Distro" actually work. I realise your post was from many months ago (since you mentioned Mint 14) so you might want to give the newest one a go, and maybe try different "Distros", like XFCE.

Sadly, most of us came to Linux on a machine already running Windows and we just trudged through the fixes, workarounds, etc. Many of us were lucky and got all aspects working, but with the newer machines it actually seems to be getting more difficult because of technologies evolving, like hybrid graphics solutions, that aren't supported in Linux yet. If I had it to do over again I'd buy a computer designed for Linux because it'd definitely be able to run Windows if I so choose (which I won't). But when you're stuck with what you have it can just be frustrating and there is not much you can do but ditch the equipment and get something compatible. Not a good answer, and painful on the pocketbook, but that's the sad reality.